On the outside
by Crashing Planes
Summary: The ninjas disappeared almost a millenium ago, isolationg themselves from the world, but when the wizards ask for their help they head out in the world once again. As wizards and shinobi meet, who will survive to see the aftermath?
1. Bermuda

**A/N: Well, hello! **

**This is my first fic so go easy on me, okay? Nah, who am I kidding! Come down at me with all your force!**** *Grabs shield and unsheats sword* Bring it ON!**

**This will be a slash fic- WAIT! DON'T GO! The slash will NOT dominate the story, it will just simply be there, mmkay? And there will be NO lemons.**

**I could not have done this without my awesome friends; SeaDevil, Vendelareader and bokpricken! I love you :'D!**

**Disclaimer: *Sigh* No, I don't own Naruto or Harry Potter, happy now? So now no one can sue me.**

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><p>Chapter one<p>

Bermuda

Once upon a time the world was filled with warriors, strong, brave and most importantly, loyal. These warriors were called ninja. They specialized in in guarding and assassination but would take on any job if presented a worthy pay. They were cold, apathetic killing machines, trained from a young age to always obey orders, whether it was to retrieve something, guard someone or kill your fellow man. The world viewed upon them in admiration, hate, jealousy and fear. For they were the strongest of all, shameless and they never showed mercy. They had abilities the normal human could not even dream of having and they were impossible to kill. They were like gods in the eyes of the poor man, a threat and an ally in the eyes of the world's leaders. They were fire breathing, lightning wielding, earth moving, wind bending, water rising monsters. They were a freak of nature and they should not have existed. For the world could only see them through hostile eyes, watching their every move in fear that the next would be to attack them.

The five kages, the leaders of these ninjas, grew tired of their paranoid behavior and of them flinching at their every movement and came to the mutual agreement that they did not need the rest of the world anymore. The decision was to isolate themselves and all the civilians who lived on the continent from the outside world and to cease all communication with the outsiders. They created a dome of compressed chakra around their continent. The chakra prevented the outsiders from seeing the land and not even animals would wander inside the dome. The land inside the dome was the size of the entire North American continent but the dome had only a radius of a few hundred meters. The inside of the dome became a peculiar place, animals grew to abnormal sizes, extreme climates and even time seemed to move slower. For when several centuries had passed on the outside, barely one had inside of the dome.

To avoid being detected by the outsiders the dome altered the direction of the planes and occasional boats that would otherwise had head directly inside their hiding, making them take a detour around them while the people on board held no memory of it. It was rare, but it had happened that a plane or ship had not been affected by the chakra and had disappeared in to the dome. This went unnoticed for several hundred years, the people had assumed that the ships had simply been lost at sea, for it was not uncommon that a ship did not arrive, but as the technology evolved so did the outsiders' supervision of their ships. This meant that all the planes and boats that disappeared could not go unnoticed. There was several speculations on what could have caused the ships' disappearances but the phenomenon soon became known as the Bermuda triangle, but the outsiders could never prove its existence. The ninja were forgotten and became nothing but a legend.

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><p>Tsunade glared at the pile of paperwork on her desk, silently willing it to vanish. A crease between her eyebrows appeared as she frowned in concentration. A vein popped out of her forehead in annoyance but the pile of paper remained where it was. She took a deep breath and released it in the form of a frustrated sigh. She closed her eyes an leaned back in her chair, she did <em>not<em> want to do this. The greatest form of boredom a hokage could ever experience was paperwork, or at least it was to Tsunade. She frowned with her eyes still closed, would the papers be there when she opened her eyes? Maybe she had just imagined that they were there. She slowly and hopefully opened one of her eyes and let out a frustrated groan, the papers still existed. Maybe she could just _not_ do it. Tsunade quickly swatted the idea aside, she knew that it wasn't an option.

She reached out to take the top paper but something made her stop mid air. It was like a barrier had appeared around the papers. Tsunade scowled at the pile, drew back her hand a few centimeters and studied it. It looked like a normal, perfectly healthy hand. She looked back at the papers, she couldn't sense any chakra around it and once again she groaned. There was no barrier around the papers, but she really didn't want to do this. She took the top paper and quickly scanned through it. It was a complaint. She frowned, it was Shizune's job to take care of those, even if they never used to get them. She scanned through it again, a little slower this time, trying to decipher what the actual complaint was. Apparently the woman who had filed the complaint had hired her ninjas to retrieve her missing cat, but the cat had been returned without its ribbon. Tsunade nearly fell of her chair. Of all the complaints they received, which once again was not often, Shizune had deemed this one important enough to give to her? The vein on her forehead popped out again and she quickly and quite angrily crumbled the paper into a little ball and threw it in the trash can. This was one of the reasons she hated paperwork. She leaned back in hear chair again, not having the mental strength to take the next paper. Who knew what horrors it could bring.

This job had become more demanding ever since the fourth war and Tsunade was tired. Under her young skin was just an old and tired woman, maybe it was time for her to retire soon. She had done a perfect job of resurrecting Konoha after Pein's attack and the village was now even greater than it had before it was destroyed, but the project had been very hard work. Tsunade had always done her best but now, she had grown tired. Maybe she would quit when the right replacement came along. She already had a person in mind but she wasn't sure he was ready yet.

Tsunade was jerked out of her train of thoughts when she heard a noise at the other end of her office. Her eyes flew open and she instinctively brought a kunai to her hand. She stood out of her chair and launched herself over her desk pinning the person who had caused the noise to the wall. She brought up her kunai to rest on the old man's neck. The man gave a surprised gasp at the action, it had all happened too fast for him to register. He looked down at the kunai pressed to his throat with wide eyes but then he smiled and chuckled lightly.

"Well, I suppose that this is my own fault for trying to sneak up on a ninja." he said calmly, watching her through half-moon-shaped glasses. Tsunade narrowed her eyes and studied the man with suspicion. The man was diffidently not an active shinobi himself and if he was, then he was certainly not the brightest. What kind of shinobi would wear such clothes? Tsunade didn't know what to call them, the only word she could think of was dress. She pressed the kunai down harder on his throat, earning a drop of his blood in the process.

"Who are you? Who sent you here?" she growled at him as she tightened her grip around the man's clothes. She was very angry, shinobi or not, she didn't want him in her office. But on the other hand, she was thrilled, the man had given her a reason to ignore her paperwork for a while before she called on the guards. And as he opened his mouth to respond, Shizune barged through the door with Tonton in her arms.

"Tsunade-sama," she said."I heard some noise, are you alright?" She stiffened as she saw the man Tsunade had pinned to the wall. She brought out a kunai of her own and dropped Tonton to the floor. The little pig landed neatly and bared her teeth at the man, looking surprisingly intimidating for a pig of her size. Tsunade never took her eyes of the man in front of her. The man had watched the pig in confusion and astonishment and if he hadn't been pinned to the wall Tsunade would probably have laughed at his expression alone. He switched his attention back to Tsunade and gave her a charming smile.

"My name," he started, "is Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore." He made a noticeable pause between the names, Tsunade noted, as if to enhance the fact that it was separate names. Tsunade would have felt insulted by the act, but she silently thanked the man instead and quickly hid any trace of it from her face. Then she frowned, was the man serious? Could anyone actually have such strange names? She quickly got the unimportant thought out of her head, she had other things to think about than how strange his name was. She caught sight of Shizune from the corner of her eye and her assistant looked as confused as Tsunade felt. She focused on the man again as he continued. "But I prefer to just be called Albus Dumbledore," he said and then added in a wistful voice,"it takes a lot of effort out of it, don't you think?"

Tsunade forgot to hide her expression behind her stone mask and raised an eyebrow. This was one very strange man, but more importantly, what was he doing in her office? She quickly regained her expression and bore her eyes into the man. She did not care. And what was he doing. In. Her. Office? But Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to notice her agitation and met her gaze calmly.

"And as for who I work for..." he made a pause,"Well, I work for no one but myself." His calm look replaced with a flare of fierce fire in his eyes. Tsunade felt her anger flare in response, was Albus Dumbledore trying to _mock _her? She felt her eyes narrow even more and her eyebrows dived into a very deep scowl as she glared at him. She forced him harder to the wall and pressed the kunai even harder against his throat, a thin stream of blood slowly made its way down his skin. Tsunade's whole body radiated only one thought, _Don't get smart with me_. And this time he was wise enough not to ignore her message. He straightened his face into a serious, business like expression and moved his hand to take something out of the right pocket of his 'dress'. Tsunade quickly caught his hand before it reached its goal, her eyes dark with suspicion. And Albus Dumbledore chuckled once again.

"Oh, believe me, I'm not enough of a fool to try to take down a ninja." He reassured her with a small smile. But Tsunade did not trust him to retrieve it himself and motioned for Shizune to come and take it. She hesitated for a fragment of a second but then obediently lowered her kunai and moved over to the man's right side. She opened up his pocket, carefully peering in in case the man had hid any strange things in there, for all she knew, his pocket could have been filled with poison covered needles. Inside was nothing but a scroll and Shizune almost breathed out a sigh of relief. _What the hell had she expected, _she thought and mentally shock her head. There was no chakra what-so-ever in or surrounding the pocket, she noticed as she took the scroll out. It was a basic looking scroll, white with red edges and a black seal, but it looked old, very old. The white paper had turned slightly yellow and the edges looked torn and ripped. She held it up so Tsunade could get a good look at it while not letting her eyes of Albus Dumbledore. Tsunade nodded, signaling that she deemed it trustworthy enough to open. Shizune tore the seal open and scanned through the content. Her eyes widened in disbelief as she read and she looked up at Tsunade almost too stunned to speak.

"It's from Senju Tobirama." she managed to force out. Tsunade's head immediately snapped to look at her and to the scroll she had in her hand. The statement had shocked her so greatly that she had almost let go of the old man.

"What! What does it say? Are you sure that it's really from him?" she asked after she had regained herself from the shock. She looked back at Albus Dumbledore, the man had a passive expression as he looked from Shizune to Tsunade. _How the hell had he gotten a letter from the nidaime? _Shizune looked down at the scroll and turned it to show her. It was his signature in blood. Tsunade's eyes widened more than she thought possible and she reached out with her free hand to touch the blood. She let her chakra rush down her arm, out her hand and into the paper of the scroll. She let it embrace the dried blood, searching every molecule of it. It was indeed the nidaime's blood. She let her hand drop to her side and she looked back at Albus Dumbledore with a frown on her face, along with another unrecognizable feeling.

"What does it say?" Shizune hesitated for a second, not actually having read the whole letter. She tried to scan through it, getting more and more bewildered by the second and tried to summarize it all. By the time she had reached the end of the letter, her mouth hang agape. She snapped her jaw shut and frowned. She stared at the letter blankly for a few moments, looked up and was met Tsunade's stern and impatient gaze. Shizune flinched back in realization that she had zoned out for a few seconds and tried to regain the summary she had made in her head.

"It says that he's from the outside," she started, but got no further as Tsunade growled and turned to Albus Dumbledore. She had an outsider in her office. Shizune tried as quickly as possible to get on with the information, mentally cursing herself for not having predicted the hokage's reaction. "It says to treat him like a client." she said sternly to Tsunade, trying to stop her from going berserk at the old man. Tsunade stopped dead in her tracks with her free hand raised in a clenched fist as she turned her head to look at Shizune with a disbelieving look on her face. Shizune could almost hear Tsunade's voice ringing in her head. _Really? An outsider?_ She let out a sigh in relief as the hokage slowly relaxed and lowered her fist. She registered only now that she had been holding her breath. Tsunade looked at Albus Dumbledore, the man's eyebrows almost reached the base of his gray hair, but otherwise he wore a neutral expression. She looked back at Shizune with a raised eyebrow, showing that she was ready to hear the explanation. Shizune fidgeted slightly under her gaze, not used to Tsunade being this murderous. "Well, it says to listen to what he has to say before you throw him out and to consider his request before making your decision." she chose her words carefully so that the information could get through and not anger Tsunade along the way. Tsunade frowned at the new information and turned to Albus Dumbledore.

"How did you get that letter?" she said to him, her voice dripping with suspicion and once again, he smiled at her.

"It was given to the founders of the school where I am currently headmaster. It has been handed down for centuries and was only to be used in time of great need. The reason why Senju Tobirama gave the letter to the founders has unfortunately been lost with time." Tsunade raised her eyebrows. Her granduncle had told her about a school on the outside where they taught youngsters something similar to chakra control. They were weak in his eyes, but the founders had assured him that they were quite strong in comparison to regular people on the outside. The rest of this community had despised the ninjas as the rest of the world had, but the founders had looked at them in respect and admiration. Her granduncle had spoken quite fondly of them. When the kages had decided that they would isolate themselves he had given them a letter that would give them a chance to receive help from the hokage in grave situations, or in this case, force Tsunade to at least listen to the old man before she threw him back to the outside. She had never understood his sympathy for them.

"You are the headmaster of Hogwarts?" she asked him. He looked pleasantly surprised that she had known of the name as he nodded. But Tsunade would not drop her guard that easily. "Prove it." she demanded in a hard but calm voice, making sure that Albus Dumbledore could feel her breath against his face. He held up his right arm in front of her face. Tsunade frowned at the hand. _Very convincing evidence, _she sarcastically thought. But then a small kanji appeared on the back of his hand, practically reeking of chakra. It was the kanji for kage.

"It appeared on my flesh on the day that I became the new headmaster." the old man said. Tsunade looked at Shizune and the young woman looked down at the paper.

"It says; 'for confirmation, kage'." she said and looked at the hokage. "And that's all it says." Tsunade cursed mentally, he was the real deal. She had no choice but to honor her granduncle's wish and listen to what the man had to say. And so, she released the headmaster of Hogwarts and took the kunai from his throat. Albus Dumbledore relaxed slightly and smiled widely. It annoyed her. She forced the vein on her forehead to stay hidden as she turned around to go back and sit in her chair behind her desk. She motioned for Shizune to bring forth the chair that stood in the corner of the office for Albus Dumbledore to sit in. She then picked Tonton up in her arms and moved to stand by the door. Tsunade leaned back in her chair, pressing a hand to her forehead as he took his seat.

"I will listen to what you have to say, but purely out of respect for my granduncle." she drawled out and lazily waved her hand to him, as if saying; _get it over with._ But Dumbledore didn't start spewing out his story in the quickest way possible, as Tsunade had hoped he'd do. Instead he frowned.

"Senju Tobirama was your granduncle?" he asked and Tsunade nodded. "Huh, then time here moves slower than I thought.". He seemed to be lost in deep thought when Tsunade finally looked at him, so she sighed and decided to snap him out of it.

"I am not so young as my appearance make you think." she explained. The man raised his eyebrows in understanding. "Besides, time on the outside moves irregularly." she added. Albus Dumbledore frowned at her. "I mean that it moves faster sometimes and slower other." she explained. "But I suppose it would look like the opposite for you.". She leaned back in her chair and said nothing more.

"Well", Albus Dumbledore said when he decided that he had had enough of the silence, "I have come here to acquire your services.". Tsunade raised an eyebrow at him. "I need guards for my school."

_Oh?_ Tsunade thought and leaned forward to rest her elbows on her desk. "And why does your school require guarding?"

"Well, you see, about twenty years ago a wizard- a man called Tom Riddle, or as he prefers to be called, Voldemort, began to form an army. With this army he would annihilate all non-pure-wizards- a person with magical traits", he added at Tsunade's questioning look. "And the rest of all non-magical people in the world.". Tsunade raised an eyebrow and leaned in further on her elbows. "He was quite successful on this quest of his, but then a prophecy arose, saying that a child who held the power to destroy him soon would be born. He found this child and planned to kill him, but he failed, supposedly killing himself in the process. We lived peacefully for quite many years, but ever since the boy started going to my school, Voldemort has been trying to return.". Tsunade frowned. _Return? I thought he said that he was dead._ She listened more closely, suddenly intrigued by his story. "And last summer he returned." Tsunade leaned back in her chair again. _So this was what he wanted the school guarded from,_ Tsunade mused in her head. The rest of the story was quite obvious. The boy needed protection from this, what was his name again? And Albus Dumbledore said no more, waiting for her response.

Tsunade leaned forward with her elbow on the desk again. "And what makes you think that I would accept your request?" she asked him. She carefully studied his expression, but it did not wager from the calm look. "You should know just as well as I that we do not deal with _outsider_ business." she laced the word with hatred and her expression darkened. The wizard smiled at her.

"I respect your feelings for the world. The way you were treated was most... unpleasant". That was the understatement of the century. "But if Voldemort succeed in taking down the wizard community the rest of the world would not fall far after and after that, he'd come after you." Tsunade scoffed.

"He wouldn't stand a chance."

Albus Dumbledore smiled.

"I am quite aware of your strength and Voldemort would indeed, not stand a chance against you". His eyes suddenly gained a mischievous gleam, but it was gone just as quickly as it had appeared. "But Voldemort would not stop trying. I believe it would be quite a ...", he stopped and seemed to be carefully picking a suiting word, "nuisance to you. I am certain that you would have more important matters to deal with." Tsunade's eyes narrowed dangerously, but then, she suddenly barked out an amused laugh, startling Shizune who still stood at the other end of her office.

"Indeed I would." she said with a wide grin. "Shizune!", she barked out, "Bring us a bottle of sake. We have some business to discuss."

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><p><strong>AN: Weell? Bad? Good?**

**Feel free to ask me if anything is unclear and I'll probably explain (depending on whether or not I think that it is necessary) and/or notify me about spelling/grammatical errors.**

**Well, I guess I'll see you later then. Bye and REVIEW!**


	2. Guardians

**AN: Well, well, well, I finally updated! Yay! Sorry it took so long.**

** I would like to say thank you to Vendelareader and bokpricken for being such awesome friends, to Morte Cacciatore for continued support, to my cousin Karolina, to Falcon-Rider for stating such an excellent argument and giving me the pleasure of proving you wrong, and last but certainly not least to SeaDevil. The most awesome beta anyone could wish for and therefore, as queen of this humble land, I dub thee, Ser SeaDevil; master of semicolons, spelling and grammar. I am forever in your debt.**

**Also, I'm going to start writing another story. A Harry Potter/Darren Shan crossover and I am in desperate need of a beta. If anyone's interested you can pm me about it.**

**Disclaimer: Nope, it isn't mine. **

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><p>Chapter two<p>

Guardians.

It was the same place, the high ceiling, the ankle high water and the cracked concrete walls. Everything was the same, the same endless silence, the same dull darkness and the same feeling of dread and hopelessness. It was the innermost place of his mind, the foundation of his being and the worst place he had ever experienced. Though he did not feel as awful coming to this place now, he had been here far too many times. The knot in his stomach did not appear as it used to do, his heart no longer raced as he realized where he was; this time, he felt nothing. He sunk to his knees, paying the water no mind, as it did not matter. He knew where this hallway went, what was waiting for him at the end of it. He would not face it this time, he decided. He would stay here, where the monsters of his mind could not reach him. He would not go around the corner; he knew what waited for him there and he did not want it. He would be safe if he stayed.

A sound rang through the hallway behind him. He could not hear what it was, but it shocked him nonetheless. He had never gone that way; he had never dared. If one chamber held such horrid things, what would the next one hold? He rose to his feet, taking careful steps toward the origin of the sound, wading through the water. He stopped as he got closer to the corner, suddenly struck with uncertainty. He took a breath to calm his nerves, closed his eyes and rounded the corner with one giant step.

Cool air engulfed his body and bird song filled his ears. His eyes snapped open and he leaped to the next branch, crouching as he landed before leaping onwards to the next branch. He wasn't moving quickly enough. He pumped his chakra to his legs, gave out a great roar of frustration and moved with twice the speed through the next leap. He had to get there in time. His legs cried out in pain; he could not keep this pace for long.

His body whirled forward as he crashed on the desert sand. The sun heated surface burned into his skin and he flew to his feet with a cry of pain. He was in the Suna desert. Why was he in the Suna desert? He wasn't supposed to be in the Suna desert. Why the _fuck _was he in the Suna desert?

His head spun with confusion. He wasn't supposed to be here. It was the wrong direction. Tears welled up in his eyes; he wouldn't make it in time now. He would be too late. Panic rose in his chest, he had to go back. He spun around and darted back towards the forests of the fire country, but the sand muffled the speed of his rampaged sprint, slowing him down to the point where he did not seem to move at all. He made a hopeless attempt to pull his leg away from the sand that was crawling up his thigh, but it simply shot from the ground and swallowed his body hole in response, dragging him down into the ground. He helplessly hit at the sand surrounding him, his heart beating heavily in his ears and panic high in his chest.

He looked around. They were supposed to be here. He turned, jumping up on the high stone pillar to get a better view. There they were. He could have recognized that pink hair from a mile away. He leaped from the pillar dashing to their position. Maybe he wasn't too late after all.

He pushed his chakra to his feet, running across the water, but the sight that met his eyes made him stop a few meters away.

He was too late.

Sakura stood there, on the water, with a kunai thrust into her neck. Blood exploded from the wound, painting the water she stood on red. She choked, blood spitting out from her mouth, her eyes wide with fear. Her hands reached up to what may have been her final attempt to save herself. The chakra left her feet, but Naruto caught her before she could fall into the water. He fell to his knees under her weight; he had little strength left. He tried helplessly to brush the hair from her face, which was now all covered in her blood, so that he could see her eyes. They were wide, filled with disbelief and pain. His tears fell down onto her face.

"Sakura," he tried in despair. "Don't do this to me. Don't leave me." Her blood was on his hands, his lap, his chest, even his face. He cupped her cheek, turning her gaze to his eyes. The tears ran like rivers from his eyes; she was dead. "No," he whispered. "No, no, no, no." He hugged her dead body tightly to his chest. "You can't," he tried to growl through his tears. "You mustn't. I won't let you." He full out sobbed, rocking back and forward, crushing the body in his hug.

She gripped his throat, squeezing it with such strength he could feel his windpipe breaking. She rose to her knees, her empty eyes burning with the flames of anger. With the kunai still in her throat she dragged him underneath the surface. She bared her teeth in a furious growl, crushing his throat with her hands. "You let him kill me." Her hair was floating around her head like a burning pink halo.

Naruto opened his eyes to the warm sunlight of the morning, with bird song outside his window. He blinked. _A dream._ The usual feeling of self loathing came upon him and his eyes began to water. In vain he tried to blink the tears away before they started to fall, but it did not take long for the lump in his throat to become unbearable. He heaved himself up on his elbows and took a deep breath, trying to ignore the wave of nausea sweeping over him. The world suddenly seemed too bright. The bird song suddenly became too joyful, the air seemed too clean and the sky was too blue.

He sat up in his bed and placed his head in his hands. His bare body was covered in sweat, but Naruto didn't feel warm. He was cold on the inside. He took another quivering breath, begging the tears not to come, but he could feel himself losing the fight.

A hand ran up his back and strong arms pulled him into a warm embrace. Long chocolate brown hair draped over his head and a light kiss was placed on the top of his head.

"The same dream again." Neji said, more a statement than a question. All Naruto had to do was nod into Neji's chest. All of a sudden happiness made its way into Naruto's mind and he let out a weak laugh.

"You see right through me, don't you?" He couldn't help but smile. He wiped away the tears that had escaped the corners of his eyes. He let out another laugh. But the smile soon fell from his face.

"It wasn't exactly the same this time, you know." Neji lightened his embrace to look him in the eye. Naruto snorted to distract his mind from tears. It didn't work. He frowned. "This time she tried to kill me." The words came out with unexpected ease. The pain of the memory was fading. He now felt more shocked than hurt by the act. He raised his gaze to meet Neji's, all the sadness the dream had caused him forgotten. He gave him a warm smile.

Neji gave him a small smile in return and leaned in to steal a kiss. Something made him stop halfway, his eyes darted to the window and his muscles tensed, but just as soon, he relaxed. The smile returned to his lips. "Someone's calling you." he muttered before giving him a peck on his forehead.

Just outside his window, sitting on a branch of a nearby tree, a small bird sat. It jumped over to the window, tapping its beak lightly on the glass. Naruto hunched his shoulders and groaned. She was doing this on purpose.

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><p>A grin crept its way across Tsunade's face as they waited. He should come in any moment now and Tsunade couldn't help but feel a little happy; it was quite early in the morning. Her gaze drifted to the man at the other side of her table. Albus, he had told her to call him, saying that it was what he preferred to be called.<p>

His _dress_ seemed to be made of some fine material, she noted absently. It sure didn't look like it had been cheap. Her grin became one millimeter wider. He would pay generously for this, she was sure. She could already picture all the new buildings that money would buy.

Albus, too, seemed absorbed in deep thoughts when a knock on the door was heard. Shizune poked her head in through the door, hoping she wasn't disturbing.

"Cat's here." And in through the door came said person, clad in the traditional ANBU uniform and with a snarling cat mask covering his face. He strode up to her desk and bowed deeply to her.

"Tsunade-sama," said the calm, monotone voice from behind his mask.

"Albus," she said. "This is the captain of the ANBU, Cat." Albus studied him curiously, focusing on the painted lines of his mask. "Cat, this is Albus Dumbledore." Cat bowed politely to him and Albus inclined his head in return. The captain studied the old man quietly, catching a worrying gleam in his eyes, but the gleam disappeared before he could figure out why it was there in the first place.

"He has come to us with a mission request." Tsunade informed him. "He needs to have a certain person protected."

Protection mission, ordinary mission, yes, but not if the ANBU captain was the one given it._ A very important person, indeed, _Cat thought. This was going to burn a hole in the old man's pocket. He threw a quick glance in said man's direction. There was something off about him; Cat just couldn't put a finger on what it was.

"This would be an eight month mission," She continued. "With thrice the normal pay."

Cat raised his eyebrows behind his mask and looked at the man. _A _very _big hole._

"Located on the outside." Cat's head snapped away from the man before he could stop himself. He stared at her in shock; no one had left the continent in over ten years. The hokage met his gaze calmly; she wasn't kidding. He turned toward the man again, the outsider, again. No wonder he seemed off.

"We haven't gone over the details yet, as we were waiting for you." Now Cat almost felt ashamed he hadn't made it there faster, but he remained steady in his posture and gaze, not letting it affect his exterior. Albus chuckled.

"My school is indeed located on the outside." he smiled. "In a land called Scotland."

The name cut strongly against the language, different tone, different melody, and a different sound. Cat tried to mimic it in his head.

"A student of mine, Harry Potter," Again, the stark contrast of sounds made him frown, "is in great danger. A very powerful wizard," _Wizard?_ "whom we have long thought to be dead, has risen, putting very many people in jeopardy." He paused. "Voldemort, as he is called, aims to kill Harry, as he is the only chance we have to defeat him." He paused again, seemingly puzzled by his own words. "Voldemort," he started again, "uses a form of magic" _Magic? _"that taints the very soul. He must not succeed in killing Harry." His eyes darkened as he stared into the air.

"The wizards and witches on the outside," he seemed quite absent-minded as he said this, "don't believe that he indeed has returned, leaving me in a very awkward position. Because of that, me hiring your ninja, may be frowned upon. Though it is a chance I will have to take." He looked up at Tsunade, and he smiled once again.

"How large is your school?" Tsunade asked. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, looking as though the thought had never crossed his mind. He frowned and looked blankly at her.

"It is hard to say." Tsunade raised an eyebrow. She leaned forward and placed her elbows on the table. Her face relaxed and she closed her eyes. When she opened them again she was expecting an answer. Dumbledore smiled. "My school is very large, but I could not tell you how large, for I do not know myself. There are tunnels, passageways and even chambers I haven't seen." Tsunade sighed. His gaze turned to Cat and he frowned. "What I am requesting is that you guard young Mr Potter while you make it appear as if you are guarding the whole school. I mean no disrespect, but are you sure Cat-san will be able to do so by himself?"

Tsunade raised an eyebrow to Dumbledore and then turned to look up at Cat. Many of his ANBU were off on missions and only a few of them would be returning any time soon. He resisted the urge to frown. Turtle would have been his first choice considering how little he knew about the effect chakra had on wizards, but he was away on a hit mission and wouldn't be back for at least another four weeks. Swan's medical knowledge and interrogation skills would come in handy on a protection mission, but he knew that Dog was planning on proposing to Swan the very next week. Bull lacked the amount of concentration the mission required and Rat would be hospitalized for another month.

He could always bring Owl. His thoughts faded and warmth spread through his body. _No, he could not bring __him. _He went through his mental list of all the ANBU's again, but his mind only wandered back to Owl. He was the best choice; Cat realized at the end. _Damn it._ He could monitor large areas with his byakugan and his fighting skills were impeccable. He stopped in his thoughts; did the gentle fist work on these wizards? _Too bad Hinata wasn't an ANBU_. Another thought dawned in his mind.

"Is Stag still in Konoha?" he asked Tsunade. The ANBU's superior intellect was an asset on every mission and his negotiation skills exceeded Cat's own by far. The feeling went numb when Tsunade shook her head.

"He left for Suna yesterday morning for a meeting with the kazekage." Cat wanted nothing more than to groan in frustration, but he remained his calm stature. _Was there anyone else he could bring?_ He went through his mental list of his ANBU agents once more. _Damn it._

"Owl" his monotone voice rang through the office. Tsunade seemed surprised at his decision, but she roared for her assistant to come in nonetheless.

Shizune poked her head in through the door and Tsunade told her to send for Owl. "I want him here _now_," she emphasized in her stern voice.

"Hai!" Shizune answered as she cringed slightly from the hokage's voice.

Owl came through the door three minutes later. His chocolate hair bound in his usual tail, a few strands hanging loose. He had hurried there. Cat was amused. It was not often one could see this man so untidy; with his hair messily bound and his mask crooked on his face. He walked up to the hokage's desk and bowed.

"Tsunade-sama" Said a familiar, calm, monotone voice through the mask.

"Albus, this is Owl" Tsunade said quickly as she motioned with her hand at him. "Owl, this is Albus Dumbledore." Owl bowed and Dumbledore tilted his head towards him just as he had done to Cat.

"Ah," Dumbledore said as if he had just remembered something. "I forgot to mention, there is a language issue. You see, we don't speak Japanese." Tsunade leaned back in her chair and frowned. "There is a spell I could cast on you-"

"No." Tsunade stated. "I will make this perfectly clear. No spells will be deliberately cast on my shinobi. Are we clear?" Dumbledore blinked in surprise, but seemed to take no offense in the statement, "As you wish."

"We will learn." Cat said. They had no idea what effect magic had on chakra and they weren't too keen to become the test subjects just yet. Dumbledore got up from his chair.

"Well then." He walked towards the door. "I shall meet you at the main gate in thirty minutes." Tsunade stared at him. "You mean to leave_ today_?"

Dumbledore turned to her. "Oh, yes. I can assure you hokage-san, it was not easy to get here." He had a spark in his eye. "I could not make this trip too many times. And do be quick about it; I have a hearing to get to."

* * *

><p>"That's enough!" Molly Weasley spoke from the shadows with her arms crossed, looking furious. Harry had not noticed her return from taking Ginny upstairs.<p>

"I want you in bed, now." she said and looked around the room. "All of you." Sirius shook his head disappointed, but made no notion to stop her.

"You can't boss us-" Fred began.

"Watch me." she snarled and he shrank slightly. She turned to Sirius, trembling with anger. "You've given Harry plenty of information, any more and you just might induct him into the Order straightaway."

Sirius sighed. "I will tell you one more thing, though, something they would have found out when they got to Hogwarts anyway." he said to Mrs Weasley in a loud voice as she began to protest. She glared at him and he glared right back before continuing. "Dumbledore is trying to hire guards for you and the school." Harry gaped at him.

"What, like aurors?" Ron asked.

Sirius shook his head. "No, nothing like aurors. Foreign guards." They all frowned at him.

"Why would Dumbledore hire guards from another country?" Hermione asked. "That doesn't make sense." The others nodded in agreement.

"He hired guards for me?" Harry shrieked. Sirius ignored him.

"They're strong." he continued. "That's what Dumbledore told me, at least. He left as soon as he heard of the attack. Said he'd be back in time for the hearing."

"Well, did he say anything else about them?" said Hermione. "Anything at all?"

They all looked at Sirius with anticipation as he grinned.

"He said that he hoped they didn't kill him first."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Weeeeell? Good? Bad? Horrible?<strong>

**Please review! And please inform me of any spelling and/or grammar errors and feel free to ask me if anything's unclear.**

**I'll be in Austria the following week, so don't take it personal if I don't respond.**


	3. Black holes and squiggly lines

**AN: Well hello... Um, I would say that I had a reasonable explanation for not updating, but the thing is that I haven't got one. I must say that I am terribly sorry for this unnecessary delay.**

**I want to make it very clear that I am aware that it's been very long since I updated and that I feel bad about it. I'll try to publish the next chapter by Christmas. The point is that there is no need to review saying: "You took too long to update. Fuck you", and others of the sort, as I ALREADY KNOW.**

**As always I want to thank vendelareader and bokpricken for being amazing friends, but most importantly to SeaDevil; she's fucking awesome. I love you.**

**Also, I made this chapter for my birthday (today) as my gift to you, so don't go bashing on it, okay?**

**Disclaimer: Me no own.**

* * *

><p>Chapter three<p>

Black holes and squiggly lines.

_"A black hole has enough gravitational pull to __bend __even time, __to__compress__ it __so much that__ slows down and the closer you get to it the more it slows."_

If one had to explain the strange occurrences observed by those select few who over the years were to travel across the border of the protective dome of the hidden continent, using that likeness to a black hole the dome has would be the easiest way to make it understandable. These travelers were sent to gather what knowledge the people from the outside might have gained. The first agent who was sent by the united kages ten years after the creation of the dome and was met by a curious sight. It seemed that in their absence the outsiders had progressed immensely; an almost frightening development. This agent, of course, rushed back home to report his strange findings to his leader and their allies.

The kages themselves were surprised to say the least, but thought nothing of it, as the outside and the outsiders' businesses were none of their concern. Five years later another agent was sent, this time solely by the Tsuchikage himself; not the kages united. He returned with the news that once again the people they despised so had progressed far beyond they themselves and also that much had seemed to change since the last shinobi had been sent.

As the years passed, more shinobi were sent out to explore this peculiar occurrence, and once, a kunoichi claimed to have been gone for nearly a year, but to all the people inside, she appeared to have been away for no more than a month. The explanation was simple, really, once one put some thought to it; time moved faster on the outside.

Many grew curious and amongst those who traveled on their own accord was the first Hokage's younger brother – Senju Tobirama. The young man – as he was when he traveled the most – became strangely fond of it; the world that had progressed more than one-hundred and seventy years ahead of their own. At times his trips would last for years, but as his brother died and he was named the new Hokage, his traveling ceased.

After twenty years has passed since the creation of the dome, agents reported that the outsiders had forgotten the existence of the hidden continent and that all the remaining traces were dismissed as legends. At that time the science of their neighboring land went through a revolutionary stage and the spies of the hidden continent began to bring inventions and such back with them. One of the most astounding ones had the shape of a small box, but with a flash of light, it could capture an image more accurately than any human painter could ever dream of doing. Another agent later brought a similar device which also captured movements and sound. It could replay whole conversations, but the "camera" would only show a blurry smudge instead of their high-speed movements in a fight.

But alas, despite, or maybe because of, the wonders that seemed to occur on the outside, most would not let go of their hatred for the people that lived there. It seemed to grow instead. The outsiders are vile, pathetic creatures that hated them - or so they told all their children - and you all should hate them, for they would kill you without mercy. There were those who did not believe in their parents' stories, but they were only a few.

In the sixty years that passed within the dome more than nine-hundred went by on the other side, but the people there never even seemed to care about what had happened to the warriors whom they had feared so much. There were passing notes in old legends – the kind that was written in faded books, on papers that crumbled at the touch – but those as well were only seen as mere horror stories of a time passed.

The citizens of the hidden continent cared not either way; what difference would it make? It did not matter if they were despised or forgotten; they would still be there in their homes and the outsiders would be somewhere far away in theirs. It was simple; they had their own world now, a better world, free from narrow-minded cowards. It was perfect.

* * *

><p>Hogwarts stood as good as empty every summer, when the all the students and teachers had left. Only the ghosts and the house elves remained, but as the house elves chose to remain in the kitchen, the only ones roaming the eerily quiet corridors during the summer were the ghosts. And this warm and sunny summer, the school was bright as the world blossomed around it. When it stood this empty, this quiet, one could almost think that it was the ruin it would appear to be if anyone should come across it – anyone who wasn't supposed to, at least.<p>

It was – as mentioned – a particularly sunny summer; heat wave after heat wave struck the country and the grass gained brown and yellow shades. This day, though, it rained and the light from the sky was so pathetically dim you would think the sun had forgotten to rise. Hogwarts was dark, empty and quiet, but it would not remain so for long; the new term would start in only a few weeks' time, and the students would return. All would go back to normal again.

One of the two great wooden doors of Hogwarts swung open and the rain gently blew in to soak the floor inside. Dumbledore stepped in with his purple robes drenched and his beard dripping with water. It was gone in an instant with a simple spell, but it had been cold nonetheless. Behind him stood the two strange warriors, paying their wet outfits no mind. They even seemed indifferent to the fact; it was quite fascinating. He briefly wondered if he should offer to dry their clothes for them, but they had been very clear on that they wanted as little involvement with magic as possible. He shrugged to himself; it didn't seem like their wet clothes bothered them anyway, so he left the issue.

They were very bewitching in a way, the shinobi; their straight posture, their strange hair and their porcelain animal masks. Cat – the captain – had short, bright blond hair sticking out in every direction while Owl's was flowing chocolate brown, tied at with a string at the end. Both of them had an air of fierce strength that sent a chill down his spine. He hoped he had made the right decision in bringing them here. He smiled at them politely.

"This is my school," He said in their language, "Welcome to Hogwarts." The warriors did not react immediately, but after a second they both turned to him and bowed deeply, still saying nothing. _How fasci__nating, __indeed,_ he thought as he cocked his head slightly.

Their chambers were located in a dark corner of the fourth floor, behind a painting of a young man in a tuxedo lying across a sofa with a cigar in his hand. The painting was made in a very muggle-like fashion, and Dumbledore himself had no idea of where it had come from, but he was somewhat fond of the picture. As expected, he received no comment from either Cat or Owl – there wasn't really anything to say about the room; two beds, a desk, a small fire place and large windows with a view of the great lake. Their room was password-protected so that no students would go snooping around if it were to be found and, as far Dumbledore could tell, they seemed pleased enough.

As they went down the stairs, it shook suddenly and started moving. Dumbledore glanced curiously at the warriors, but as they stood as unfazed as ever, and he could not help feeling a little disappointed. They returned to the bottom floor to walk to the great hall, but he soon realized that the other two no longer walked alongside him. He stopped to turn around, and there they stood, as if petrified, staring at the corner of a wall.

He took a careful step towards them, but suddenly their trance broke and they appeared to be back to their passive selves – although he could not know for certain if that was so, or if they simply hid their feelings behind their masks.

"Is something the matter?" Even though he well knew that the question was most likely asked in vain, he nevertheless felt curious.

"Nothing", answered the captain quickly, but exchanged a glance with his partner. As they walked past a grand window, they stopped once more; this time to watch the thestrals fly over the forbidden forest. A thought suddenly struck his mind: _of course they can see thestrals, they are warriors after all_. At first, he had assumed, as he did with most people, that they would not be able to see them. Now that seemed like quite the childish thought. He briefly wondered how many innocent people they had been ordered to kill and how many battles they must have fought.

He led them past the great hall and introduced them to some ghosts who had been spending the day there. The ghosts each bowed to the foreigners and the two politely bowed back in return. _So not even ghosts would draw a reaction_, Dumbledore mused. _How peculiar_. They continued to his office and he gave the guardian statue the password; as usual, it willingly jumped aside and revealed the revolving staircase.

As they entered, all the past headmasters of Hogwarts leaned forward in their portraits to catch a glance of the ninja Dumbledore had told them about. A quiet murmur broke out amongst them as they inspected the pair with interest, but neither Cat nor Owl paid them any mind. Dumbledore walked up to his desk to retrieve the map that laid there and held it out to them.

"I'm afraid it is not as accurate as I would like it to be", they glanced at the map and unfolded it, sending the numerous layers of the map sprawling out. This was the first time he had seen them look completely, utterly speechless – or so they seemed to be behind their masks. He smiled ever so slightly. "You are welcome to familiarize yourselves with the school before the students arrive in a few weeks. Though I would advise you not to wander into the Forbidden Forest; the creatures there do not take kindly to strangers intruding on their territories."

This earned him what he suspected might have been a skeptical look, but it was covered by their masks. The captain patiently folded the map while Owl turned to him and whispered something in his ear. Cat stilled for a second, but folded the last piece of the map and looked up at Dumbledore. He himself couldn't help lifting an eyebrow at their exchange.

"Well, I have some errands to run", he finally said and tore his eyes from them. "Teachers should start arriving in a week or so. You are welcome to dine in the great hall, as the house elves will provide you with food." As "house elf" did not have a direct translation, Dumbledore had to make do with the words he had, resulting in quite the awkward term.

The ninjas did not seem to mind, or even notice, however, as they both nodded in understanding and exited the office with him.

* * *

><p>Before the students' arrival a few weeks later, they had discussed their approach towards them and their mission; whether they would guard all the classes or if they should remain focused on the boy, if they should patrol the area or shadow their charge through the school, how they should handle their introduction – if they made one, as it might be more effective if they remained unknown to the students. There were many things to decide, annoying things and details that Naruto would rather be without. Not that he ever mentioned his displeasure with the planning to Neji; no. He firmly decided to suffer in silence.<p>

Honestly, he was shocked when he saw the school; it was huge! He had seldom been more grateful for having a partner on a mission before; the thought of keeping tabs on a place such as this alone made him shudder.

It was strange, all this magic business. Ghosts flying around, paintings moving, food magically appearing at the tables, running armors, floating candles and the stairs; they must have been the worst of all. Eventually he had just stopped using them the way he was supposed to, choosing to jump from staircase to staircase instead.

But the most disturbing thing was what he had discovered the day they arrived. How was it even possible?

He shook his head; he should be focusing on learning these damn words! He gripped his feather-pen and stared intently at the paper. He gave up, groaned and slumped back in his chair. _This languag__e is impossible._ He was well aware of that he had learned tremendously fast up to this point, yet it still felt as though he could barely introduce himself to a child. He looked at Neji, who was squiggling down letter after letter with ease.

"How much longer 'til they get here?" _The faster they get here, the faster I have an excuse to avoid doing this._ Neji stopped writing and glanced up at him with a knowing smirk.

"Less than two hours now," Naruto groaned and threw his arms in the air, whining like a child. Neji laughed softly at his behavior and before returning to his writing.

Naruto stared up at the ceiling. Had there ever been shinobi here before? Tsunade had told them the old man had had a letter from the second Hokage himself, so there had obviously been at least one, but had there been more than that? He thought back to the time where he had first begun to think about it.

_They followed the old man through the roomy corridors and he wondered __if__ it would be __hard__ to keep track __of__ one boy __when th__e__ corridor was filled with students. Though he supposed it wouldn't be as hard for them __as it would have been for someone else__. Maybe they could slip unnoticed through the cro__wds. How observant would these wizards prove to be?_

_He glanced out __through a __wind__ow __as__ they passed, catching a glint of the large lake which looked so dark without the sun __there __to __illuminate__ it. For a second __he saw __a shadow move across the surface, but __he blinked, and__ it was gone._

_He watched the wizard walk along the corridor with a f__amiliar ease, but as his gaze wandered away from him and landed on the wall, he stopped. There on the wall. There was something there. He moved closer to get a better look, __before stopping __and __staring__ in utter disbelief._

_There was a __fūinjutsu__ seal written__ on the wall._

"_Captain?" Owl __ask__ed__ him.__ "What is it?" He didn't bother answering, only pointed at the spot on the wall. __Neji's eyes__ followed his __gesture until his__ gaze landed __on the wall__. "How..?"_

_They noticed a movement out of the corner of their eye and __quickly pulled themselves out of their shock just as Dumbledore asked:_

"_Is something the matter?" T__he man was watching them w__ith a childlike curiosity in__ his eyes, but Cat suddenly felt dread creep up through his stomach._

"_Nothing", he said quickly and prayed the answer did not sound as uncertain as __it__ felt. He sent a quick glance at Owl, who met it with a worried look. __After__ that they followed D__umbledore __again, th__oughts swirling in their minds._

"What do you think it is?" He didn't bother elaborating it any further; his partner knew what he was talking about.

Neji stopped writing again and looked at him, this time with a serious face. "I have no idea. It seems so incomplete, and I haven't heard of any fūinjutsu masters traveling to the Outside." He frowned. Naruto hummed in agreement.

Neji sighed and laid the feather-pen aside. He stood and walked round the table to pull Naruto to his feet. He smirked at the yelp that escaped Naruto's lips and put his arms around his waist.

"Stop over-thinking it", He said. "Come, I want to see the students before we have to introduce ourselves."

* * *

><p>The students arrived in a big, red and loud metal-machine which was spewing out white and black smoke. There seemed to be about seven hundred children who made their way to the carriages pulled by the skeleton-horses Dumbledore had called thestrals. Another smaller group, consisting of younger students, went over some boats by the lake.<p>

It was not very hard to locate the boy they were to protect; a lanky boy with black hair and glasses accompanied by a girl with bushy hair and a tall boy with red hair. They ran alongside their chariot in the trees and tried to listen to the conversation that took place, but alas they could not understand much of it, and when word such as "nargles" were involved, it did not make the task any easier.

They followed them into the castle by climbing along the walls above them – it wasn't as if they were going to look up – and watched them sit down at one of the tables.

"He looks ordinary enough", Cat commented dryly. Owl agreed quietly.

Dumbledore stepped up to the podium after a hat had sung a song and the youngest students had walked up and each gotten it placed on their heads – the sorting hat, Dumbledore had told them earlier that it was called – and all the students went quiet. He began what Cat figured was a speech – he couldn't understand much either way – and was promptly interrupted by a small woman with a high-pitched voice.

Even though neither Cat nor Owl could understand more than loose and incomprehensible bits and pieces of it, judging from the students' reactions the speech was boring and unnecessary. The murmuring that broke out across the room as she finished briefly made him wish that he could have understood what she had said.

Dumbledore continued and once again a murmur broke out as he waved his hand, gesturing for them to come down.

"That's our cue", he said and walked down the wall. A collective gasp was heard as the first students caught sight of them walking down to the headmaster. Dumbledore gestured for them to speak.

Cat stepped up and as he had decided to refrain from speaking their language, which he hardly knew, he spoke in his own with a strong voice. "I am Cat, captain of the ANBU." Dumbledore translated. "This is Owl. As we have been tasked with guarding this school we would appreciate if you would follow a few simple rules to make it easier for us."

As Dumbledore's voice rang out across the hall in the foreign language, he realized that maybe it was strange to speak loudly enough so that everyone could hear when no one could understand him. But no matter; he had started now, so it would seem odd if he suddenly changed his volume. The students were murmuring again.

"You are not to be out after curfew, however important it may seem; this includes the prefects." It almost seemed as they would protest, but at the last moment, all the students held their tongue. "You are not to wander outside the Hogwarts area." The rule seemed obvious, and was already in place anyway, so there were no protests at that. "The last rule reads as follows: you are not to get in our way; if you do, we cannot guarantee your safety." His harsh voice echoed through the silent hall and even though Dumbledore had yet to translate, every single student seemed to understand the severity of what he had said.

When they returned to their chamber Naruto untied his mask and threw it on the bed before promptly collapsing beside it.

"That went well," Neji said as he entered after him. Naruto lifted his head to glare at him. "Well, it did."

Naruto groaned and let his head fall back on the bed. "Did you see that fat lady's face? She looked pissed. Bet she'll be a fucking pain in the ass. Even Dumbledore warned us about her."

* * *

><p>Harry bolted awake, sitting straight up in his bed, gasping for air. His whole body was covered in cold sweat and shaking violently. He stared around the room with wide eyes, panting and choking slightly. He blinked furiously and lowered his head into his hands, tugging at his hair.<p>

In the bed next to his, Ron stirred in his sleep, then groaned and sat up, albeit not very steadily, as he swayed gently, threatening to falling back to sleep. Temporarily winning the battle against his eyelids, he eyed Harry hazily.

"Harry, is that you, mate?" came the very intelligent question from Ron. "Did you have another nightmare?"

Harry nodded.

"Yeah, the same one," he fell back on his bed. "There were just all these… papers."

"Papers? Sounds like a horrible nightmare."

"I'm serious, Ron", he snapped tiredly. "They were supposed to fit together somehow. I just – I just don't know how. Like some kind of bloody thousand-pieces puzzle that I am supposed to solve without knowing why; if there even is a reason." He sighed, wiped the sweat of off his forehead and sat up again.

"I've had this same dream so many times this summer; almost every night. Even if I only pass Divination by bluffing, I can at least guess that if it returns so many times, it's got to mean _something_, right?" As he got no response, he leaned over towards his best friend's bed. "Ron?"

He was met by the scene of a sleeping and deeply snoring Ron. Sighing, Harry lay down again, pulling the duvet up to cover himself.

As he tried to go back to sleep, his mind wandered back to that otherwise empty room, black stone floor covered by papers. Papers filled with squiggly lines that were all supposed to come together somehow, but just refused to. The puzzle he had to solve.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Weeeeeeell...? Not horrible I hope. Again, real sorry for the delay -_-' And review! As a birthday gift! ^^<strong>


	4. Bangs and booms

**A/N: Hi, as I am painfully aware, I haven't updated in way too long and I really don't know what I was thinking when I said the next chapter would be out by christmas (as you can see: it was not). As always I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed and my beta Seadevil for doing an amazing job.**

**IMPORTANT DETAIL! I'd just like to remind you that the dialouges written from Naruto's and Neji's perspective are in Japanese, if in English they'll be written like _this,_ okay?**

* * *

><p>Chapter four<p>

Bangs and Booms

Presently, in the corridor furthest to the east in the north wing on the fifth floor of Hogwarts – a corridor well-used by the students – there was panic.

Students lay scattered on the floor clutching their heads or an injured leg. There was mumbling and whispering, all regarding the one person who remained standing in the midst of the chaos – although his concern was not with them. No, he seemed more interested in getting his trembling body under control.

Silence erupted suddenly as his body violently jerked forward and a mist of grey smoke rose from his chest. The smoke swirled slowly away from him and when it was a few feet away it took the form of an unusually see-through ghost with an abnormally pale complexion.

The ghost rushed away before twirling around to stare at the still living person he had emerged from. He looked horrified.

"Brother Christian!" another ghost shrieked and rushed to his side. "Are you alright?"

The murmuring continued once more as Brother Christian and his friend fled the scene, sending terrified glances over their shoulders as they quickly floated away.

All eyes turned to the ninja who had remained standing in the middle of the commotion before he snapped his wrists and vanished in a gust of leaves.

* * *

><p>Harry leaned heavily on his elbow, glaring up at the head table with his food all but forgotten in front of him. More specifically, he was glaring at the two foreigners with the strange clothes currently standing by the head table. He was blazing on the inside with a fire fueled by frustration, anger and betrayal.<p>

"It's not them you should be mad at you know."

Harry turned to Hermione. "What?" he said angrily; he really wasn't up for one of her lectures.

"Them, the ninjas," she pressed. "It's not them you should be mad at."

"I can be mad at them if I want to, Hermione." He sighed and he turned his gaze to the food on his plate.

"Dumbledore hired them," she insisted and Harry hoped for the sake of his sanity that she would get to the point. "They're only doing what Dumbledore's told them to do, which is protecting you, ergo: it's not them you should be mad at."

"She's got a point, mate." Ron interjected.

_Why __does__ she have to be so bloody smart?_

"How can I not be mad at them?" he snapped, "Dumbledore's probably told them everything; about the order, the weapon – hell, _everything _he won't tell me! I think I've got a right to be cross with whoever I like, Hermione."

"Whomever, Harry," she sighed. "That's still not the point."

Harry scoffed and cast his eyes to Dumbledore.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled as he watched the headmaster laugh along with professor Sprout and Madame Pomfrey. "I just don't understand why they don't trust me enough to tell me what the bloody hell is going on."

Hermione frowned and bit her lip.

"They do trust you, Harry-"

"Yeah? Then why won't they tell me anything?" He hissed angrily at her.

"They want to protect you."

"I don't need protecting," he exclaimed and lowered his voice. "I need to fight._ I need to know what's going on._"

He bored his eyes into hers and he could see that she understood.

"Harry, mate, they're not the enemy," Ron said, wide-eyed. "Dumbledore hired them; he's fighting back, making preparations!"

He sounded so happy about it.

"Why can't _I_ prepare, then?" Harry asked and he knew he was starting to sound desperate. "Why can't I train to fight? Why aren't they telling me anything!?"

A few students turned to him as his voice grew louder and louder. He scowled when he noticed, but only leaned in closer to Ron and Hermione, though he could think of nothing else to say, so he sighed.

Hermione looked as though she wanted to give him a big hug and Ron looked thoughtful.

"How d'you reckon they did it?" He asked after a moment of silence.

Harry and Hermione looked at each other, but neither of them seemed to know what he meant.

"Did what?" Hermione asked with raised eyebrows.

"Walk on the _walls_!" Ron said looking amazed as he turned to glance at the ninjas.

Harry frowned.

"You're at a school for magic and you're asking how they walked on walls?" he asked slowly. "Seriously, Ron?"

Ron turned back to Harry with a questioning look.

"What?" He asked, frowning. "They haven't got any wands!" he looked towards them again.

"You can do magic without a wand." Hermione said and looked at Ron with an exasperated expression.

Ron snapped his gaze back to her and opened his mouth to speak, but left it hanging for a while before he closed it again and frowned.

"Yeah – but, I mean –"

"What? What do you mean, Ron?" Hermione's eyebrows rose in question.

Ron closed his mouth and scowled.

"Nothing."

Hermione only sighed and returned to her food while Harry continued his glaring – only now with less vigor.

They were standing very still, he noticed; not moving more than shifting their heads once every few seconds. The black holes in their masks were skimming over the students who were eating and most likely whispering about them. They looked like snarling animals eyeing their prey in the tall grass, just waiting to pounce on them when they looked away.

Harry shook his head and went back to picking at his food. The dessert would appear soon and he was hoping that there would be some pie, preferably rhubarb, but anything fruity would do.

"Who do you think they are anyway?" Ron mused and Harry and Hermione sent him questioning looks. "Under those masks, I mean."

"I don't know," Hermione shrugged. "I haven't read about any magical societies where they would fit in. What do you think, Ron?"

Ron stared at her for a second before he turned to Harry with a disbelieving look.

"What? You're asking _me_ about something _you _don't know about?" He sputtered at her.

"You were born in a magical family!" she said and shrugged again. "Of course you'll know things about magic that I don't! Now, _do_ you know something about them?"

Ron opened his mouth, but clamped it shut and frowned. He hummed and pursed his lips.

"Nah, I got nothing," he said.

"Oh, well," Hermione said as though saying 'it was worth a shot'.

The plates of dessert appeared on the table and Harry directed his attention to finding that pie instead of observing the hilariously bemused look on Ron's face.

After a moderate piece of the rich and tasty rhubarb pie, Harry stood up to leave as professor Dumbledore dismissed them.

"Ron, we're supposed to show the first-years where to go!" Hermione exclaimed.

* * *

><p>The echoes of his footsteps thundered through the empty corridor as he marched forward, foregoing his usually gracefully quiet movements. Naruto was furious and he didn't care for the looks all the people moving in the paintings were giving him.<p>

It was stupid, really; a simple mistake to make. Missing details were always a problem during missions, as Naruto knew very well; just look at his first mission outside the walls of Konoha. He really shouldn't have been surprised that something like this had happened and in the back of his mind he knew that it shouldn't have awakened the wrath currently burning inside of him. But that knowledge did nothing to calm his anger.

The radio on his throat buzzed.

"_The situation has been stabilized; the hostiles have retreated north." _Neji informed him.

He stopped momentarily and pressed the button of his com.

"Good. Move back to the west side of the castle. I want a detailed report of their formation after I deal with Dumbledore."

"_Roger that."_

Unmoving, he tried to quell his rage with deep breaths. It was nothing, a neglected detail at worst if even that. Dumbledore must have thought the creatures less aggressive than they were. That must have been it. Over and over again he repeated the most logical assumption, but the entire incident had stirred the hostility he felt for the wizards. He knew he couldn't burst into Dumbledore's office spouting wild accusations though.

With another deep intake of breath he continued his brisk walk to confront Dumbledore. As Naruto reached the large stone statue guarding the office behind it, he stopped to wait. He had been told it would move to let him in, eventually.

He almost flinched when it suddenly jumped into action and moved out of the way. The obstacle removed, he hurried up the stairs, still trying to control his disrupted mind. When the last step was behind him and he stood with his hand on the door handle, he paused and closed his eyes.

_Breathe in. Breathe out._

The door swung open as Naruto twisted his hand and walked in with the same calm, calculated and gracefully quiet steps he always used when on a mission.

"Ah, Captain Cat", Dumbledore greeted him. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Naruto's eye twitched behind his mask as he clenched his jaw to keep from shouting out the accusations boiling beneath his skin.

"It's regarding the forest", he replied curtly.

"The forbidden forest? Of course. I trust that you and Owl and have been making yourselves acquainted with the area?"

Nothing Dumbledore said had held the slightest hint of malice, but Naruto's rage-filled mind refused to recognize it.

"You seem to have neglected to mention just how hostile the inhabitant species could be."

He knew he was being rude and how disrespectful he sounded; this was no way to treat a client. An ANBU member was not supposed to act like this – especially not a captain. He knew that, but right now, Naruto just didn't give a flying fuck.

Dumbledore frowned at him, the confusion written clear across his face as if he hadn't quite understood what had been said to him.

"The centaurs?"

"The men with the horse-bodies."

They had come out of nowhere, armed with bows and arrows, galloping around them.

"How deep into the forest did you wander?" Dumbledore inquired. It was as though he hadn't gripped the fact that Naruto had just barged into his office with fumes shooting from his ears.

"We'd been running for ten minutes when fifty of them attacked us", Naruto said stiffly. He wanted to spit at him, to slam the desk in front of Dumbledore with such strength it would break under his fist. He wanted to rip off his mask and growl in his face.

"They attacked you? Unprovoked?"

"Yes." Dumbledore sounded genuine in his disbelief, but Naruto had encountered many good actors before. He wouldn't be fooled so easily.

"I hope neither of you were harmed in-"

"They were weak", Naruto snapped harshly and then froze. Just beneath his skin he could feel the chakra flowing with such force that it was making him tremble. He felt so ashamed that he had to look away. It would be unacceptable to lose control over something so petty; they were both unharmed and it had all been over within minutes. This mission could be the beginning of an important alliance between Konoha and these wizards; its success was crucial for the future of the relationship between two civilisations.

Naruto breathed in deeply and forced his shoulders to relax before he returned his gaze to Dumbledore's.

"I assure you, we are both perfectly fine," he said flatly, but respectfully.

Dumbledore's face looked eerily blank for a moment and Naruto began to fear that he had angered him with his rudeness, but then a small smile made its way on the old man's face.

"My apologies. The centaurs are a proud people and they have been more territorial lately. I realize I should have warned you."

"You should have," Naruto agreed stiffly. "I trust that no such information will escape your memory in the future."

As Dumbledore's eyes lowered and he began to speak again, Naruto excused himself with a curt bow, spun around and left.

Anger flowed out of him piece for piece with each passing step of the stairs as he descended and was replaced with a steady flow of regret. When he stepped past the statue and it jumped back in place, he turned back around and for a second he considered going back up to apologise. Naruto now realized he had all but scolded a very well paying customer.

Images of the screaming men returned to his mind unwelcomed and the thundering clamps of their hoofs rang in his ears. It left a bitter taste of mistrust in its wake and Naruto walked away trying to school his scowling expression behind his mask.

* * *

><p>"I'd forgotten Wood had left," Hermione said as she sat down beside Ron and watched Angelina strut away across the great hall. "I suppose that will make quite a difference to the team?"<p>

"I s'pose," Harry said as he took a seat next to her, but fell quiet as he spotted the brown-haired ninja crouching high up on the wall on the other side of the room. The man must have had a good outlook of the students from where he was and Harry doubted that many of them had even realized he was there yet.

"He was a good keeper," Hermione said and grabbed a toast from the table.

"Still it won't hurt to have some new blood will it?" Ron turned to her and said, but she only shrugged while spreading butter on her breakfast.

Harry looked back up at the wall where the ninja sat, but startled as he found himself staring into the black eye holes of that snarling mask he wore. It took little time for Harry to realize that the ninja had not moved; just turned his head so that he was looking in his direction. Still, the presence of his gaze connected with his own and made the room seem frighteningly small, so he looked away again.

* * *

><p>Even as the boy turned to his friends again, Neji kept his eyes trained on him. He figured that the more he learnt about his behaviour the better he would be able to predict his reaction in dangerous situations.<p>

So far, Neji had been able to conclude that many of the other students avoided the boy or sneered behind his back, the others came up to him smiling or clapping him on the back. Which of the both made the boy most uncomfortable was hard to tell.

Suddenly, a storm of birds flew in through the windows and swooped down towards the students at the tables below. Almost all the birds, Neji realized with a start, were carrying something, be it a letter or a package of some kind. The owls were for the many students or so it seemed, as none of the birds landed at the teachers' table.

Neji's eyes narrowed as he studied the one who had landed near the Potter boy. While these birds were large, muscular carriers suitable for the heavy loads of mail some received, it would not be hard to spot the messengers from afar, no matter how swiftly they flew and Neji doubted he would find the task of capturing one difficult. The carrier-birds of the hidden villages were smaller and more discrete to avoid detection

As focused as he was, it was not strange that he almost missed a sound below him, but as another shrill _hem, hem _called out insistently, he looked down. Standing there was the pink woman. She wore a broad smile even as her lips were pursed into a thin line and her brow was twitching (in an effort not to scowl at him, Neji presumed). With a single finger she beckoned for him to come down to her.

Neji looked at her motionlessly for a second before he tilted his head to the side and further observed her strained expression. If Neji didn't know any better he would say she was going to scold him for something, although he couldn't imagine what for.

Releasing the chakra from his feet, Neji pushed from the wall with a flip and fell the ten metres to the floor, landing in a crouch with practiced grace.

The woman stumbled back a step as he landed a meagre foot away from her – as she had been standing almost directly beneath his seat on the wall – but regained her footing quickly.

Though Neji had been studying their English language for days, there was much of what the woman was saying that he couldn't understand. There were fragments of "I"s and "You"s and "Dumbledore", but the majority of her speech went beyond Neji's understanding and, eventually, he found himself absently thinking about the fact that she sounded far too angry to still be smiling.

As her incomprehensibly fast speech went on, he grew annoyed with her and eventually raised his hand to silent her.

She seemed startled by his bold action and quieted mid-word.

**_"Aimu doin jobu. Bisi, oki?"_**

Assuming that his pronunciation was acceptable and his words understood, Neji walked his way back up the wall to resume his observations.

By now more people had joined the Potter boy and his friends at the table and Neji no longer had a clear view of them. Minutes later most students had started getting up and were moving out of the dining hall.

Naruto had instructed him to patrol the roof of the castle with two or three of Neji's clones by him, so he turned to look out of the window on the wall across the room. The sky was free of clouds and the few trees he could spot swayed only slightly in the wind; it was a fine day to be outside, but Neji opted to wait for all the students to clear out before he went outside and up to the tops of the castle towers.

* * *

><p>The corridors of Hogwarts were swamped with students trying to get to their first class of the year, all of them bustling with chatter amongst themselves; about their classes, summers and the teachers.<p>

Yes, almost the entirety of the room was noisy; all but one corner. Naruto was starting to seriously wonder if he should have henged himself into a stone pillar.

As soon as someone came close enough to him, they froze and stared at him. Then they stood there until one of their friends dragged them away or the person walking behind them crashed into them.

It was annoying. It wasn't like Naruto wasn't used to it; the streets of Konoha were a tough place for the host of a demon, but the wide eyed stare and the gaping was starting to get on his nerves

When Naruto realized that one boy – a very small one with a big nose – had stood staring at him for almost half a minute, he flexed the muscles across his arms, causing the boy to quickly scramble away. Naruto knew that he should have put a clone in this position. He knew that he would tomorrow, at least.

Some only glanced at him as they walked past, but they were thorough; studying him intently from head to toe. Some looked at him curiously, others frowned and a few looked utterly impassive. Some people let their eyes roam so freely across him that he self-consciously started wondering if he should have cut his hair by now.

After some time the students abandoned their interest in him and became more intent on making their way towards their classrooms. The classes were probably starting by now.

Gradually, the corridor emptied until the only one who was left was Naruto.

He looked down each end of the corridor and decided that he should move himself to another floor before the class was over.

Across almost every wall he walked past hung a painting and all of their motifs were moving just as they would have in real life. They, too, grew quiet as soon as he walked close to them and then started whispering harshly to each other as soon as he left.

Then it was Naruto's turn to startle into a halt as he rounded a corner; it was the moving stairs again. The last time he had tried to climb those stairs he hadn't known that they moved and... well, let's just say that he hadn't attempted to use them since then, which was ridiculous. Imagine that; ANBU captain, defeated by stairs.

He carefully stepped out onto the first step, but as he climbed higher with each step he was forced to stop. The stairs weren't actually leading anywhere; they just stopped half-way to the nearest floor.

With a shrug Naruto looked around for another stairway nearby that he could jump to. There were two close to him, one leading back to the floor he had just come from and another was moving across the space above him. Leaping from the top stair to the other stairway was easy, even as it raced forward, but as he landed it skidded to an abrupt stop and Naruto was sent slamming into the railing.

Naruto grumbled and abandoned the stairs; the walls seemed so much nicer.

_Stupid stairs_, he thought angrily as he jumped to the entrance of a corridor two floors above. Unfortunately, this one was more trafficked than the one he had had to endure previously.

By the time that Naruto had made it to the other side of the castle the students welled out from their classrooms. He kept close to the wall, not wanting to get stuck in the middle of the crowd.

Like a kunai had been lodged in Naruto's back, pain erupted along his spine and he stumbled away from the wall.

His head spun with pain and confusion, and then, everything – his hands and arms, his legs and his chest – began to tremble and all the students stopped to stare at him in shock.

Naruto could feel his chakra involuntarily building up within him as he tried to maintain control of his body, but he almost screamed as a burning force spread rapidly from his chest and outwards into his limbs.

All at once it burst out from him and it slammed the people in the crowded corridor into the walls with the strength of a hurricane.

Naruto's body still trembled violently as he stood there, but the pain was gone. Blood pumped through his veins at such speed that he thought that his heart might burst from his chest and as he was jerked forward viciously, he gasped.

A shiver tore through his body as a freezing coldness washed over him and suddenly a dim silver mist spewed forth from his chest.

Gasps erupted around him, but Naruto only tried to keep the bile rising in his throat at bay as the ghostly mist actually took the shape of a ghost.

Someone cried out, alarmed, and Naruto jerked his head up and the world started to spin. Quickly he twitched his fingers together and shunshined away.

He reappeared in their chamber and inhaled sharply, scrambling backwards for something to steady himself with. Panting and trembling, he leaned against one of the wooden chairs they had by the desk at their window.

Pain returned like a knife in his back again, but stabbed into him deeper this time and then twisted around while still in his flesh. This time he screamed as his blood began to boil beneath the surface.

When the wave of energy exploded out from his pores it was weaker, even though the pain had only accelerated through him faster and fire had spread through his head with more wrath than before.

Still, it ripped the chair from his grasp and with such force that it cracked when it collided with the wall. Most of the pain washed away quickly, but the throbbing in his head remained persistent.

Raggedly, Naruto breathed in shallowly through his mouth, not having realized that all the air had been knocked out of his lungs.

The taste of blood in his mouth was more welcomed than the way his head spun when he tried to reach the radio at his throat. Naruto quickly pressed the button to signal Neji for help, but he collapsed to his knees before he could open his mouth.

"_Yes, captain?" _He heard Neji's voice from the radio, but he could not respond. _"Cat? Are you there?"_

With a groan Naruto fell to ground completely, unable to catch himself. His head lolled to the side and the blood-taste in his mouth became more and more insistent. Soon his vision speckled with black and in the distance he could barely hear the radio as Neji cried out.

"_Captain! Answer me!"_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thank you for reading to the end and feel free to notify me if you notice any grammar and/or spelling mistakes and ask me questions if anything's unclear.**


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